Government and politics - Term Paper Example

Firstly, in order to understand the way in which the executive branch has changed, it is necessary to begin the analysis by stating that the Constitution of the United States expressly prohibits the President from declaring war. As such, this particular process is one that is supposedly only allowed to be engaged by the Congress. However, ever since the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the president has been able to allocate military resources and all but declare war. Though the Constitution has placed the executive branch in direct charge of the military and all actions related to them, the informal and circuitous manner by which the executive branch has engaged in war over the past 60+ years has meant that this particular dynamic of executive power has grown precipitously (Galbraith, 2013).

Although this has been much discussed throughout society and opposing candidates of both parties have promised to close the loopholes by which such decisions are made, little actual traction has been made on this issue. Further, if any one of the three has most certainly lost power, it can be determined to be the Supreme Court. This supposedly supra-political entity has increasingly shown signs of operating at the behest of the executive branch and/or merely upholding policies or legislation of the Congress.

Evidence of this can of course be seen with regards to the way in which the Supreme Court chosen to behave with relation to the Bush v. Gore crisis of 2000 and the decision to allow the continued suspension of habeas corpus with regards to the detainees housed at Guantanamo Bay (Alternman, 2000). Further, increased political pressures have kept the Supreme Court from ruling on warrantless wiretapping from the Patriot Act, clearly an unconstitutional practice, or the torture practices that certain branches of the military and intelligence community has been known to exercise over those whom it suspects of anti-American activities or sentiments.

Whereas corporate interests necessarily factor heavily into the decisions of governance, no more so can this be seen as with respect to the degree and extent to which the legislative branch has grown and evolved over time. Whereas several decades ago an individual of relatively meager means could run for Congress, the manner through which the system operates currently ensures that only those who are heavily funded, oftentimes by corporate or special interest groups, has any chance of actually attaining office (Bradley & Morrison, 2012).

This has meant that the Congress does not serve as a primary mechanism for representing the will of the people; rather, it is oftentimes a mechanism through which back door deals, corporate cronyism, and other crooked practices are more and more likely to take place. Further, from pressure from the executive branch, the legislative has been seen time and time again to yield and favor a particular piece of legislation that has clearly not been in the best interests of the entire population. Evidence of this can be seen with respect to the funding for the Iraq War, financial bailouts which were hastily agreed upon with little if any oversight or discussion, and a